Spring Cleaning! 5 Ways to Tidy Up Your PPC Campaigns

After a hectic Holiday and winter season, you may have realized that you have been neglecting your paid search campaigns. With the busy summer months coming up quickly, your PPC campaigns could probably use some attention. Set some time aside for spring cleaning and follow these 5 simple tips from Milestone’s own PPC Account Managers.

Tip #1 – Add Negative KeywordsAfter looking into the search query reports from your campaign, you may notice there are some keywords triggering your ad that do not make sense. These keywords are most likely driving up your impressions, lowering your click-through-rate and your quality score. Best practice here is to add those keywords in as negative keywords.

Tip #2 – Apply Sitelink ExtensionsIf you haven’t applied sitelink extensions to your campaign already, then spend five minutes adding in the necessary link information from the Ad Extensions tab from within your campaign. These sitelink extensions allow users to quickly jump to a particular page on your website and they take up additional real-estate on the search results page below your ad.

Tip #3 – Pause Non-Performing KeywordsReview keywords within each ad group and identify those with quality scores less than 5. Keywords with low quality scores are deemed irrelevant by search engines and consequentially associated ads will be rarely shown. Review your ad copy and corresponding landing pages and determine if the keywords have been or can be incorporated, otherwise pause the keywords. Low quality scores negatively impact ad positioning and increase cost per click.Regardless of the quality score of the keyword, if there is a low click-through-rate, your customers have indicated that the keywords are irrelevant. If you see a high amount of impressions and minimal clicks, it may be best to pause the keywords if match type adjustments have been unsuccessful.

Tip #4 – Refresh Ad CopyRates and promotions changing for the season? So should your ad copy. Ensure that your ad copy reflects current, accurate information including the most up-to-date rates, promotions, events and other happenings at your hotel. Failure to maintain updated ad copy negatively impacts performance of the campaign due to decreased relevancy.

Tip #5 – Optimize or Change Landing PagesWhile making updates to keywords, ensure that these updates are reflected on the corresponding landing page to maintain relevancy and quality score. Also test use of different landing pages for ads. For example, test different package pages for your Summer Promotion ad group to determine which performs best.

In conclusion, as we spring into summer, make sure your PPC campaign performance is in full bloom. Take some time to do some spring cleaning on your campaigns with the tips outlined above. In doing so, you’re taking some basic measures to ensure that your campaigns are optimally performing.